His work these days is a real hell, in full asphalt. As if they were in a sandwich devised by Pedro Botero himself: the environment, with a desert wind and almost 40ºC, and the ground, the liquid asphalt that the machines spray to cover Col legi street in Terrassa, a beautiful new black at more than 160ºC. And in the middle, they, the workers of the Asfaltos Barcino company, exhausted from such an extreme torrid climate.
Pedro Adán is an expert worker with many years in the world of asphalting, in different companies. With Barcino he started when they opened. He doesn't remember experiencing such hellish heat. “Tuesday was crazy. We were working in a park and we were falling apart with this fire. We were in full sun at 42ºC and we didn't even have shade to protect us”, he laments. “Today (yesterday) it is a little better because here in Col·legi street we have the shadow of the buildings and, luckily, the sun doesn't hit so hard”. Manuel, the manager, acknowledges that, whenever they can, they stop and rest for a while, they take turns and drink water from the five-liter jugs that the company provides them. “We protect ourselves with hats and caps and we wet our faces, arms and hands” to reduce the intense suffocation. The asphalt smokes and emits very unhealthy fumes, which they can hardly escape.
“The complicated thing is that this work is a chain in which when you have the machine with the liquid asphalt ready, you cannot stop, no matter how much you feel like it. This comes out at 160 ºC and you have to take advantage of the optimal moment to spread it and make it firm," the operators explain. Luckily, no one has suffered a heat stroke these days. They make sure they take care of themselves. “We apply common sense and combine our personal security with the best result of the trade. Even so, I am clear that in this life what you can expect is work”, says Adán.
At the Asfaltos Barcino headquarters, its spokesperson, Cristina, acknowledges that the extreme heat makes the work of the operators difficult, but that, for now, they have not had to cancel any work in the province of Barcelona. “What we have done is double the order of bottles for the workers. We have gone from about 120, five liters, to more than 200”, details the spokeswoman. “They are well organized, they are very strong and they have complete freedom to stop and rest when their bodies ask them to. They are very good professionals”, says Cristina.
Other fire tamers are in a similar situation: those of the La Floresta churrería in Sabadell, who got up early yesterday Wednesday to prepare the churros and batons for the customers. They admit that, luckily, they were closed on Monday and Tuesday, but every time they approach the pan, the oil reaches 40ºC
